Can Yours Open Doors As This One Did?

Ruth 2:11
Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband —how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.

Ruth a Moabite woman has come to Israel with her mother-in-law Naomi. Ruth and Naomi are widows. Ruth came because she loved Naomi and vowed to keep her company to the end. Ruth did not have to be kind to Naomi and come with her. It was perfectly okay for her to stay home and find another husband. Ruth acted strangely by such a commitment to Naomi.

Ruth leaves home and goes to collect leftover wheat grains from any farm that is harvesting wheat. Coincidentally as we normally say though we know it is God’s plan, she ended up on the farm of a man known as Boaz. Boaz was also a relative to Naomi’s late husband.

While picking leftover grains at Boaz’s farm, Boaz appears. Boaz gives instructions that Ruth should be treated well and protected from any harassment. Ruth is shocked and asks Boaz why he is kind to her yet she is a foreigner, Ruth 2:10. Boaz replies in our text today that she heard about her and her kindness to Naomi her mother-in-law. Because of what Boaz heard about Ruth, he treated her very well.

Boaz knew about Ruth even before seeing her. That is why when he came to the farm, he inquired who Ruth was, Ruth 2:5-6. He immediately connected what he had heard about her and the person he was seeing. Our reputation always goes before us. Reputation goes ahead before you get to where you are going. Can your reputation open doors as Ruth’s reputation did? Can yours open doors as this one did?

Ruth had a good reputation and even though she was a foreigner, she was treated very well. Her reputation opened doors. Eventually, her reputation helped get lots of grain and Boaz became her husband and consequently, she became an ancestor of Jesus, Matthew 1:5. Her reputation opened doors of eternal opportunity though she was disadvantaged as a foreigner. Can your reputation open doors as Ruth’s reputation did? Can yours open doors as this one did?

Reputation is not what you think of yourself. Reputation is what others think of you and talk about. Reputation is other people’s opinions about you. Everyone has a reputation of sorts. Can your reputation open doors as Ruth’s reputation did? Can yours open doors as this one did?

Reputation is based on how you talk to people and treat people. They in turn share it with others. That is reputation. It begins with your choice of how to interact with others. When people see you from a distance, they may remark to each other some things about you. That is reputation. When someone mentions your name and for some reason, you are discussed, people in the circle will contribute all that they know about you. All these happen unknown to you. That is reputation. Can your reputation open doors as Ruth’s reputation did? Can yours open doors as this one did?

What people say about you may be true or false. How you continue conducting yourself confirms what is going around or refutes it. We may not know what people say about us, but our conduct that they observe confirms or denies the word going around. Ask yourself what your conduct today confirmed or denied. Your conduct is the most effective way to manage your reputation. Can your reputation open doors as Ruth’s reputation did? Can yours open doors as this one did?

May my conduct confirm my reputation that I am a faithful believer, in Jesus’s name, Amen!

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